CIC Goes Shopping in Japan, for Property

China Investment Corp.’s most high-profile real estate investment in Japan so far is just the sovereign wealth fund’s latest move in steadily building up its property portfolio.

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CIC, together with Blackstone Group L.P., agreed to buy a Japanese property loan portfolio from Morgan Stanley last year for around US$1 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.

CIC has been showing increasing interest in distressed property assets since the financial crisis, particularly in the U.S. Depressed real-estate values there have been drawing interest from foreign investors from all over, though the value of investments still pales in comparison to the pre-crisis days of 2007, when in the third quarter overseas investment peaked at $8.7 billion. Continue reading on Exchange

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